Legal & General Group Plc Acquires 469,715 Shares of Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,715,076 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 469,715 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Monster Beverage were worth $384,682,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 49.0% in the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its position in Monster Beverage by 4.1% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 3,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $265,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Monster Beverage by 3.2% during the third quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $353,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,490 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co raised its stake in Monster Beverage by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 10,489 shares of the company’s stock valued at $706,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. 72.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Monster Beverage Stock Up 1.1%

NASDAQ MNST opened at $77.52 on Thursday. Monster Beverage Corporation has a twelve month low of $54.00 and a twelve month high of $87.38. The stock has a market cap of $75.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.96, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.44. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $80.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.23.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 22.97% and a return on equity of 27.38%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Rodney C. Sacks sold 206,543 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total transaction of $15,197,433.94. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Emelie Tirre sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.31, for a total value of $2,199,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 63,939 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,687,368.09. This represents a 31.94% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 8.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Monster Beverage from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Monster Beverage in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research cut Monster Beverage from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Monster Beverage from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.14.

About Monster Beverage

Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ: MNST) is an American beverage company best known for its Monster Energy brand of energy drinks. The company’s product portfolio centers on carbonated energy beverages and a range of complementary ready-to-drink offerings, including energy coffees, hydration beverages and other flavored functional drinks. Monster markets multiple sub-brands and flavor variants to address different consumer segments and consumption occasions.

Originally organized around the Hansen’s Natural line of juices and sodas, the company pivoted toward the energy drink category and formally adopted the Monster Beverage name in the early 2010s to reflect its strategic focus.